In an era where social media applications have become an integral part of daily life, 2023 witnessed the struggle of these platforms to maintain their relevance. With a global user base of approximately 4.8 billion individuals, users engage with an average of six to seven different social media platforms each month, spending around two hours and 24 minutes daily on these platforms.
Despite their widespread usage, the popularity of social media apps can decline swiftly. A report by TRG Datacentres, a US-based tech firm, highlighted the challenges faced by Meta’s Threads app, which experienced an 80% drop in daily active users since its launch in July 2023, despite gaining 100 million users in its first five days. Recognizing the trend of social media apps struggling to stay relevant throughout the year, TRG Datacentres conducted a survey to identify popular apps that fell out of favor in 2023.
The research revealed a global inclination toward deleting Instagram over other social media apps in the past year. Instagram emerged as the platform users were most eager to remove, with over 1 million people worldwide searching for “how to delete (my) Instagram account” each month in 2023. This amounted to more than 12,500 searches per 100,000 people globally.
Chris Hinkle, Chief Technical Officer at TRG Datacentres, commented on Instagram’s distinction as the most deleted app in 2023, stating that it reflects a shifting landscape in social media preferences, signaling a demand for platforms that resonate more authentically and cater to evolving needs.
To conduct the research, the team at TRG Datacentres identified the nine most popular social networks worldwide, as reported by Statista.com, which were accessible in multiple countries. They then analyzed data over 12 months to determine the average monthly searches for “how to delete (my) account” alongside the number of people using each app. The researchers used the global population to standardize the number of people searching for these terms each month per 100,000 individuals.
The research findings indicated that in 2023, 1,020,000 people looked to delete Instagram, 128,500 for Snapchat, 12,300 for Twitter, 71,700 for Telegram, 49,000 for Facebook, 24,900 for TikTok, 12,500 for YouTube, 4,950 for WhatsApp, and 2,090 for WeChat.
Instagram, a photo-sharing application from Meta, had dominated the social media landscape for years. However, the researchers suggest that developments over the years, an influx of ads, and influencers using the platform for brand promotion may have contributed to users seeking alternatives. Despite having over 2 billion users worldwide, if a million people continue to express the desire to delete the app each month, it could pose challenges for Instagram’s sustained popularity.
In contrast, Snapchat, launched in 2011, saw approximately 130,000 people looking to delete it each month. Despite this, the platform, popular among Gen Z, maintains a user base of around 750 million worldwide.
